Anticipating a heavy snow day on Jan. 11 as the storm moved north, Nickelodeon cut short its preschool programming block by two hours, replacing it with programming older children might appreciate, like "SpongeBob SquarePants" and "iCarly," spokesman Dan Martinsen said. The result: a 43 percent ratings increase over the year before.

One of the advantages for the cable channels is that they can change their programming on a dime. The networks can't do that.

If it meant seeing less of the same ten shows on cable then I'd say bring on more snow...

Thanks Kimmie. All U.S. states are involved in the count.

Nielsen tracks 210 TV markets by city/regional TV affiliate stations range.

http://www.nielsen.com/content/dam/corporate/us/en/public%20factsheets/tv/2010-2011%20DMA%20Ranks.pdf

Traditionally GH's largest audience is in Northeast and West Coasts. I believe that hold trues for AMC and OLTL, too. So when the northeast gets hit hard with bad weather, ABC soaps tend to reap most benefit. CBS soaps traditionally performed better in the south and midwest. Bad weather in those regions reaps the most lapsed viewers tuning back in for them.

LAST Friday was a major blizzard in the Northeast particularly New England and Boston (we got 2ft of snow) is Nielsen's 7th largest market so I think ABC soaps could see a spike last Friday. NYC wasn't hit as hard though and they remain by far the largest TV market.

As for the snow... we already broke the record for the snowiest month IN HISTORY here in Connecticut- and that was BEFORE the 14 inches of snow we just got last night. It first broke the snowiest January record and then expanded to snowiest month of all time... and also had the most snow in 24 hours (28 inches).

We've been averaging about 1 to 2 storms per week at this point, always seeming to fall in the middle of the week. There is no where left to put the snow and somehow travel gets worse for each storm and most places and businesses aren't opening on these days so I wouldn't be surprised to see ratings staying solid from their gains until these storms slow down...

Up here in Boston, it's same story, with one northeaster after another. The snow banks are so high reminds me of blizzard of '78 when the state started to remove the snow on street corners in fear of cars hitting school children.

Look at OLTL's ratings the last 3 weeks and you can see some wild flucations and ITA it's due to weather changes.

4. OLTL 2,845,000 (+490,000/+197,000)

6. OLTL 2,371,000 (-474,000/-179,000)

6. OLTL 2,681,000 (+310,000/+251,000)

Please note that it's been 3 months since The Talk premiered, so there's no need to post The Talk's ratings in this thread anymore. There's a discussion thread in the OT Forum, so if you want to discuss The Talk's ratings there, please use that thread. Let's just keep this ratings thread about soaps. Thanks!

Not to make you blush but I love you, Toups :-)

Not to make you blush but I love you, Toups :-)

:lol:

I've got to give this a

+!

As for the snow... we already broke the record for the snowiest month IN HISTORY here in Connecticut- and that was BEFORE the 14 inches of snow we just got last night. It first broke the snowiest January record and then expanded to snowiest month of all time... and also had the most snow in 24 hours (28 inches).

We've been averaging about 1 to 2 storms per week at this point, always seeming to fall in the middle of the week. There is no where left to put the snow and somehow travel gets worse for each storm and most places and businesses aren't opening on these days so I wouldn't be surprised to see ratings staying solid from their gains until these storms slow down...

Here in NYC also,the snow is out of control and I hear more is coming next week. When they start closing public schools you know its bad out there.

These storms have been a blessing for the soaps and tv viewership in general.

HH

1. Y&R 3.6 (-.1)

2. B&B 2.3 (+.1)

3. DOOL 2.0 (-.1)

3. GH 2.0 (-.1)

5. AMC 1.9 (-.1)

5. OLTL 1.9 (-.1)

Courtesy of Lskreet. I am but the humble messenger.

Thanks. So I guess my going on about bad B&B ratings led to an increase...

Basically this is opposite week to last week. All the shows that got a weather bump corrected themselves while B&B - the only show that didn't rise last week - went up this week.

Basically this is opposite week to last week. All the shows that got a weather bump corrected themselves while B&B - the only show that didn't rise last week - went up this week.

And I think that bolds well for B&B and future non bad weather ratings.

Basically this is opposite week to last week. All the shows that got a weather bump corrected themselves while B&B - the only show that didn't rise last week - went up this week.

This leads into the debate about whether any actual stories or characters make a difference in ratings today, but I still wonder if the stories were better, if viewers would stay around. Now soaps are trying to do the big shocks and big reveals, everything black and white, but the stories are such a mess, it's tough to care. It's sort of like the last year or so of Dark Shadows, only much worse.

HH

1. Y&R 3.6 (-.1)

2. B&B 2.3 (+.1)

3. DOOL 2.0 (-.1)

3. GH 2.0 (-.1)

5. AMC 1.9 (-.1)

5. OLTL 1.9 (-.1)

Courtesy of Lskreet. I am but the humble messenger.

Not terrible. Doesnt look like the 1 day break on Wednesday hurt ABC. Hope demos are ok.

HH

1. Y&R 3.6 (-.1)

2. B&B 2.3 (+.1)

3. DOOL 2.0 (-.1)

3. GH 2.0 (-.1)

5. AMC 1.9 (-.1)

5. OLTL 1.9 (-.1)

Courtesy of Lskreet. I am but the humble messenger.

Thanks marceline!

Pretty good week, and about how I thought things would turn out. Was thinking about how Days is the only soap that seems to gain/loose viewers depending on story.

BTW, has any one else noticed MTS extreme makeover? She looks HOT!

This leads into the debate about whether any actual stories or characters make a difference in ratings today, but I still wonder if the stories were better, if viewers would stay around. Now soaps are trying to do the big shocks and big reveals, everything black and white, but the stories are such a mess, it's tough to care. It's sort of like the last year or so of Dark Shadows, only much worse.

I don't know how much impact writing has anymore. I'm of the mindset that given soaps current state, good writing can't really bring people back but bad writing can definitely drive them away. Most of the people still watching soaps watch out of habit more than anything else and when they quit its mainly out of boredom or general frustration. For every person like me who quits out of anger over a story or character, there are 99 who simply realized one day that they were FFing through the entire show.